Richard Norton-Taylor

London

Freelance Writer and Editor at Freelance

Former Guardian defence/ security editor, writer of 'Tribunal Plays', on Liberty's Policy Council and Board of DeclassifiedUK, author of The State of Secrecy.

Articles

Whitehall cover-up of Prince Andrew files exposed

3 weeks ago | declassifieduk.org | Richard Norton-Taylor

Documents on the Duke of York’s time as a taxpayer-funded trade envoy are being blocked from public scrutiny Prince Andrew meets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a State Banquet in London, 2007. (Photo: Anwar Hussein / Alamy)The British government is refusing to release documents about Prince Andrew’s past role as a trade envoy in the Middle East, it has emerged.
Oleg Gordievsky obituary

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Richard Norton-Taylor

For more than a decade the senior KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky, who has died aged 86, spied for MI6 before escaping execution by being dramatically smuggled out of the Soviet Union in the boot of a car. He was the highest ranking KGB officer to defect to Britain, and his most important contribution as a spy was to warn Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan of the Soviet leadership’s paranoia at a time when the world was moving dangerously close to nuclear war.
Dodgy tanks, outdated warships: how can we trust UK defence chiefs to spend our billions wisely? | Richard Norton-Taylor

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Richard Norton-Taylor

Two days after he met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at his Sandringham estate, King Charles was photographed on the bridge of HMS Prince of Wales. It was a clever move by the navy’s top brass to invite him. They know that the aircraft carrier, and her sister, HMS Queen Elizabeth, are being questioned as luxuries Britain can ill afford. They are completely unsuited to modern warfare.
SAS ‘rogue heroes’ - or just rogues?

2 months ago | declassifieduk.org | Richard Norton-Taylor

Key evidence held at UK special forces headquarters containing allegations the SAS had killed Afghans in cold blood was destroyed to prevent the military police from seeing it, an inquiry was told this week. Senior special forces officers and defence officials were so desperate to cover up SAS activities in Afghanistan that the crucial data was deleted from an IT system at the “higher headquarters of special forces”, inquiry chairman Lord Justice Haddon-Cave said.
Queen Elizabeth colluded in Russian spy cover-up

Jan 13, 2025 | declassifieduk.org | Richard Norton-Taylor
Labour leader praised MI5 for spying on trade union

Jan 13, 2025 | declassifieduk.org | Richard Norton-Taylor

MI5 spies were regularly summoned to 10 Downing Street for clandestine meetings with Labour prime minister Harold Wilson to share material on striking seamen, hitherto top secret files from 1966 reveal. The full extent of his close relationship with senior MI5 officers is contained in scores of documents declassified on Tuesday at the National Archives in Kew.
How Britain is wasting its defence budget

Jan 6, 2025 | declassifieduk.org | Richard Norton-Taylor

The chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, has written to every member of the British cabinet telling them to tackle waste and cut their budgets by 5 per cent. He does not need to look far. The chief culprits and what should be his prime target, inhabit a large office block just across the road in Whitehall.
The giant warships sinking Britain's budget

Oct 29, 2024 | declassifieduk.org | Richard Norton-Taylor

If chancellor Rachel Reeves is serious about public finances, she must stop the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers causing a black hole in the military budget. The navy’s aircraft carriers in Portsmouth. (Photo: Jonathan Brady / Alamy)As Labour presents the public with large tax rises and cuts in services, Britain’s armed forces are wasting billions of pounds of public money on projects with no practical use in present or potential future conflicts.
Letter: Gen Sir Mike Jackson obituary

Oct 24, 2024 | theguardian.com | Richard Norton-Taylor

General Sir Mike Jackson revelled in debate. He was accessible to all, making his strongly held views known to young soldiers, journalists, politicians and officials, both foreign and British. When I was the Guardian’s defence editor, we talked and drank long into one hot and sticky night on the North Macedonia/Kosovo border. At dawn he emerged, apparently clearheaded, calmly persuading the Serbs to lay down their arms.
Tony Bunyan obituary

Sep 22, 2024 | theguardian.com | Richard Norton-Taylor

Tony Bunyan, who has died aged 83, was a pioneering champion of civil liberties whose modesty combined with a passionate and dogged commitment earned him huge respect among a wide network of those concerned about the growth of unaccountable police forces and security and intelligence agencies in Britain and the EU.